


A Newer Cooler Version of Me

by FredAndGinger, SpinalBaby



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: (from halloween), Alternate Universe - Michael Has a Squip, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Panic Attacks, Post-Squip, Self Confidence Issues, get ready folks, michael is kind of a dick but its because he got a squip and itll get better maybe, squipped michael, this isnt exactly chloe hate its just jeremy not being able to deal with what happened with chloe, this ones a tear jerker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-20
Updated: 2017-11-30
Packaged: 2019-02-04 15:11:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12773676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FredAndGinger/pseuds/FredAndGinger, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpinalBaby/pseuds/SpinalBaby
Summary: Jeremy seemed to be having an argument with himself about drinking those last drops, but Michael couldn’t focus on that because Chloe was prying his mouth open and shoving something inside. He fought against her, but Jake still had his arms and she was covering his mouth and nose, he had no choice but to swallow.Minty. Oh fuck.Michael gets squipped at the end of The Play and his one desire, the one thing he wanted more than anything in the world, was to be with Jeremy.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys this is our first real (non one-shot of porn) fic for Be More Chill! We're so ready.

Michael threw the Mountain Dew Red bottle to Jeremy, praying the drops at the bottom wouldn’t be spilled out as it soared through the air. Jake tackled him to the ground as he watched the bottle’s flight. Time slowed and for one heart-stopping moment, Michael thought Jeremy was going to fumble the bottle, spill the last drops, doom them all. 

Gym class had taught Michael that Jeremy had an eighty percent drop rate of any items thrown at his face. 

Jeremy caught it though, to Michael’s relief and amazement. Jeremy seemed to be having an argument with himself about drinking those last drops, but Michael couldn’t focus on that because Chloe was prying his mouth open and shoving something inside. He fought against her, but Jake still had his arms and she was covering his mouth and nose, he had no choice but to swallow. 

_Minty. Oh fuck._

Michael’s eyes widened in fear as Chloe opened a two-liter of Mountain Dew, in all its original glory, and began to pour it on his face. He tried not to breathe too much, to keep from opening his mouth. He couldn’t afford to let any of the soft drink into his system, couldn’t afford to let them activate the squip they’d just forced him to eat. 

Christine made an entrance. Michael tried to focus on her confession of love, hoping that his zombified peers would see him watching and think that it was more interesting than brainwashing a loser like him. It actually seemed to work. The two-liter was empty, but Chloe was still holding it over him, staring after Christine and Jeremy. 

“She’ll do whatever I want?” Jeremy asked the air. 

Michael made a noise of protest, though he kept his mouth shut. 

“Great.” Jeremy said, again to no one. He took a step towards Christine. 

“Jer-!” Michael tried to yell, but Chloe’s two-liter wasn’t as empty as it had appeared to be and one last splash of soda landed in his mouth. Michael sputtered as he inhaled Mountain Dew into his windpipe. He desperately wanted to curl up for his coughing fit, but Jake would _not_ let up. 

Michael missed Jeremy whispering “drink this” to Christine, missed Christine drinking those last drops of Mountain Dew Red missed the strange look that passed over her face and the spark of electricity in the air. Michael, however, did not miss the sudden screaming all around him, nor the immense pain he felt in his skull. 

Jake let go of him and he crumpled to the ground, hitting his already pounding head hard against the floor. 

Michael thought he saw that guy from The Matrix before he passed out, but that must have just been a hallucination. 

…

“Is this soda?” 

Michael groaned as his vision came swimming back to him. There was a man kneeling over him with some wicked looking scissors in one hand and the hem of Michael’s beloved hoodie in the other. 

“It has a zipper, god damn.” He said, shoving the man’s hands away. 

“We were having trouble getting your vitals,” the EMT explained, unapologetic. “Can you tell me your name?” 

“Michael Mell.” 

“Do you know where you are?” 

Michael looked around. He was still in the auditorium, backstage. There were still several of his classmates on the ground, though there were EMTs with most of them.

Jeremy was nowhere to be seen. 

“Backstage of the theater.” He replied. 

“Do you remember why you were here?” 

That’s where it got fuzzy. Michael could remember bringing Mountain Dew Red to Jeremy, he could remember throwing the bottle to him, could remember Christine’s love confession, and he could remember pain. That must have been because Jake dropped him on his head. 

“Moral support.” He supplied. 

“Do you know why everyone passed out? You can tell us if it was drugs, we won’t arrest you, we just need to know for medical purposes.” The EMT said. 

“No, I… I hit my head pretty bad. Maybe it was a gas leak or something? I remember everyone acting crazy...” Michael had never been really good at lying, but the EMT seemed content enough with that. 

… 

The EMTs allowed him to get a ride to the hospital with Mr. Heere, who had not been allowed to ride in the ambulance with his son. The car ride was tense with worry. 

“Did… did he listen to you?” Mr. Heere asked when they stopped at a red light. Michael searched his amnesiatic brain for a sufficient answer. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I think he did,” Michael replied, rubbing his head as he tried to remember, “I think I helped. It’s all so… fuzzy.” 

“God, I hope he’s alright.” Mr. Heere said. Michael looked at him, he was holding the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles had gone white. The light turned green and Mr. Heere hit the gas so hard Michael was thrown back in his seat. 

His head hit the headrest and for a moment Michael thought he saw a flicker of red in the corner of his eye, but it was nothing. He was probably just seeing auras from the brain damage or something. When he asked Mr. Heere if that was normal, the man’s worried look intensified. 

“Michael, when I asked you to help Jeremy I did not mean for you to injure yourselves and the entire cast of the school play.”

“Well, we took some creative liberties…” Michael said, trying to joke through the pain. “Ow, fuck.” 

…

At the hospital Mr. Heere stayed long enough to help Michael check in, before rushing off to find Jeremy. Michael couldn’t blame him, he needed to be with his own son after all, but he wished there was someone there with him. His parents had been out of town this weekend and (though he’d texted them in the car to tell them not to come home early, he’d just bumped his head and he’d be _fine_ ) he wished there was someone there with him to rely on. 

Eventually, after a long and arduous process of insurance and waiting, a doctor told him that he’d be fine, his memory might come back eventually, and that he’d need to have someone there when he slept that night. 

_Who would be there when I sleep?_ he thought as the doctor gave him his discharge papers, _I don’t have anyone who can be there_. 

Instead of voicing those concerns, he signed the papers. Maybe he could sleep at Jeremy’s as like… thanks for saving him. Or maybe he’d just die in the night and not have to deal with any of this. Who knows. 

After a little searching, he was allowed into Jeremy’s room where Mr. Heere was having a loud conversation on his phone. 

“No, you can’t come and visit him! You barely cared about him before, why would you care now?” 

Silence. 

“No, I have it covered. You can’t call the lawyers over every little thing. Jeremy is a kid and sometimes kids get hurt.” 

Michael could hear the familiar shriek of Jeremy’s mom on the other line. He turned to walk away so he could give Mr. Heere some privacy, but the man chose that moment to turn around and wave to him. 

“Call me back when you can control yourself.” Mr. Heere said, before shutting his old-school flip phone. “Hi Michael.” 

“Hi Mr. Heere.” 

“Is your head doing better?” 

“Yeah, they gave me some painkillers and said I could go home. I’ve got a concussion though.” Michael said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. 

“That’s not great,” Mr. Heere said, before seeming to realize, “where are your parents, son?” 

“They’re out for the weekend on some… trip. Business trip? Anniversary?” Michael rambled, unable to recall the nature of his parents’ latest trip. Mr. Heere was looking increasingly worried. 

“Michael, don’t you need someone to watch you tonight?” He asked, concerned. Michael shrugged. 

“I mean, I don’t need anyone. I’ll be fine.” He said, “The doctor just said it would be better if someone was there.” 

“Michael Mell, are you telling me you were about to disregard the doctor’s orders?” Mr. Heere said, his hands on his hips. 

“I, uh…” 

“You are sleeping over at our house tonight and that’s final. And I’m calling your parents.” Jeremy’s father swept out of the room dramatically. He was really taking this new dad thing to heart. 

Michael sat in Mr. Heere’s vacated chair next to Jeremy, looking at his friend for the first time since he woke up. Jeremy was still asleep, a strained look on his face. He looked more pale than usual, and the baby fat that had clung to him since they were kids had melted away in their two months of separation. 

“...You look like ass.” Michael laughed softly, rubbing his forehead as he stared down at his friend. Then again he _felt_ like ass. Michael closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and relaxing back into the uncomfortable chair. The rubbery upholstery squeaked as he shifted and darkness settled around him. Sleep, that would be nice. 

… 

When Michael opened his eyes he thought he’d awoken, but everything around him was black still, except for a faint red figure walking towards him. That was not normal. Before he could think to panic a voice filled the void all around him before centering in front of him, in the form of… Keanu from the Matrix?

“Welcome Michael, to your super quantum unit intel processor: your Squip.” Keanu said grandly, gesturing to the blackness surrounding them. 

Michael looked around him, before looking back at Keanu- or the Squip, brow raised, “Uhhh… my what?”

“I’m here to improve your life, Michael, and to help you achieve your greatest ambitions… and according to my calculations that ambition would be Jeremy.”

“Uh, a person isn’t an ambition. And Jeremy’s like my best friend, I think. At least, he was... and I don’t want to like date him or anything.” Michael crossed his arms as the Squip rolled his red glowing eyes.

“Michael, you can’t lie to me. I am implanted in your brain. And don’t worry, there’s no need to be shy. Listen to me and you’ll get the guy in no time and your life will improve overall.” He said matter o’factly. 

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Michael said. “I don’t need your help, or anyone else’s. Right now I just want to focus on getting back to normal.” 

The Squip looked at him, smiling, “Oh you’ll be better than normal by the time I’m done with you, Michael Mell.” He chuckled, the small chuckle turning into a deeper and more menacing laugh as Michael began to back away, everything fading out to white. He blinked a few times, rubbing his eyes and realizing he’d just dozed off for a few minutes next to Jeremy. It must have just been a weird concussion nightmare. 

Michael looked over at Jeremy. He was still dead asleep. Michael could still hear Mr. Heere in the hallway arguing with someone over the phone, probably Jeremy’s mom again. He glanced at the clock. 

Shit, had it really been a whole hour? He must have been more tired than he thought… He needed coffee. 

Michael pulled up his hood and snuck past Mr. Heere, not wanting to be any part of that screaming match. He ducked around a corner and found one of those vending machines with the awful sugary coffee. He grabbed his drink and started to make his way back, but paused at the door when he heard voices. 

“-Oh my god, I’m totally bi!” 

Was that Rich? Was Rich bi? Why was Rich coming out to Jeremy? Why was Rich in the room? Wait… the curtain. Rich must have been behind the curtain. Only _Michael_ hadn’t been all nosey about it. 

“Your squip’s gone?” Jeremy asked, “But how?”

“Ask your buddy. Anti-social headphones kid? He was just sleeping in that chair, by the way. What is he, your boyfriend?” 

At that, Jeremy made what could only be described as horrified squawk. His voice cracked in the middle of the sound. Michael had never felt such intense second-hand embarrassment. 

“No judgement. Just curious. Totally bi now.” Rich said, seemingly backtracking. Trying to drive them away from that awful noise. 

“He’s not my boyfriend! God! Why would you-” Jeremy began, but Michael chose that moment to save his friend from further embarrassing either of them by entering the room. 

“I’m sure some special someone will be happy to have you, Rich.” He said with a wink. Rich feigned a swoon. 

“You think?” He asked, putting on his dreamiest voice. Michael laughed and shut the curtain on him. 

“What happened?” Jeremy asked, “All I remember is a noise and…” 

Michael launched into his explanation. He gave Jeremy a moment to absorb it, thinking his friend (?) would have question for him about logistics and stuff. He really had done his research. 

“I don’t get it. After everything I did… You were still there for me. Why?” 

“I uh…” Damn, why did his first question have to be about Michael. He was prepared to talk about literally anything besides himself. He awkwardly laughed it off. “I can’t take all the credit! Your dad can be shockingly persuasive.” 

“My dad?” 

Mr. Heere walked in, saving Michael from an embarrassing retelling of their mutual pantless epiphany. The conversation continued on, everyone falling back into the easy way they used to talk before Jeremy was taken over by a bite-sized supercomputer and Rich eventually joined in, since he could clearly hear everything through the curtain. 

Night fell and Mr. Heere was eventually allowed to take Jeremy home. He brought Michael too, as promised. After a quick dinner, Mr. Heere sent them both to Jeremy’s room to sleep. 

“So…” Michael began, almost wishing Mr. Heere was still there to act as a buffer. 

“Video games?” Jeremy asked, cutting him off. Michael grinned, but then… 

“No staying up all night playing those damn video games either, you two. Jeremy’s still grounded!” Mr. Heere called through the door. 

Jeremy’s hand hovered over the “on” button for his Nintendo 64, obviously ready to turn it on. 

“Of course dad, I would never!” He called back, dropping his hand. He gave Michael an apologetic shrug and headed over to get changed. 

Michael turned around quickly, heart hammering. Now that all his frustration and rage about his best friend abandoning him was gone, his crush had reappeared at full force. He didn’t want to look at Jeremy when he felt like that, didn’t want Jeremy to see him and somehow _know_. 

“Hey, are you doing okay, dude?” Jeremy asked. Michael realized he hadn’t gotten changed, he was just looking at a wall with an Atari shirt in his hands. 

“Yeah man, I’m fine. I was just… uh… trying to remember what happened?” He said, floundering for a cover story. 

“What do you mean, ‘trying to remember’?” Jeremy asked, sitting on the bed. His eyes never left Michael as he hurriedly changed and Michael wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. 

“I just… I barely remember what happened backstage. I remember most of it, I think. There was screaming? Christine drank the Mountain Dew Red, right? This isn’t some elaborate squip hoax, right?” Michael was suddenly paranoid, but Jeremy put his hand on his arm, calming him. 

“Dude, yeah, it’s fine. She drank it. Why don’t you remember though? You weren’t… you weren’t squipped too, were you?” Jeremy asked. 

“Me? No, I… I don’t think so. Jake dropped me on my head and the doctor said I had a concussion, so…” Michael trailed off, shrugging. 

“That’s terrible! You need someone to watch you tonight.” Jeremy said, looking worried. Michael snorted. 

“Dude, why do you think I’m here?” He asked, laughing. “My parents aren’t home and your dad didn’t want me to fall asleep and die.” 

Jeremy’s face fell. 

“Oh, so y-you… I j-just thought…” He stuttered, obviously nervous. He dropped his hand from Michael’s arm. 

“No, of course I wanted to hang out with you! I… I probably wouldn’t have stayed over tonight though. It’s been weird.” Michael said, trying to make Jeremy look less distraught. 

“Yeah, it has been weird, hasn’t it?” Jeremy asked, laughing bitterly, “But I don’t want it to be weird anymore. Let’s just… Let’s go back to normal, okay?” 

Michael somehow doubted that that was going to happen. Nonetheless, he nodded. 

“Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave kudos, I need them to pay my medical bills.  
> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“What? Since when did you care about being cool?” Jeremy asked. Michael looked at him with disbelief._
> 
> _“Since you did.”_

The weekend passed quickly and before Jeremy knew it, it was Monday. At school the periods seemed to pass rapidly until it was suddenly time for lunch. Jeremy still had a major headache, but all in all he felt like a million bucks compared to Friday after the play. When he got there he scanned the tables to see Jake, Rich, Jenna, Chloe, Brooke, and- Michael? All at the same table? Though it struck him as odd he didn’t dwell on it, figuring Micheal likely knew that they were all going to be better friends now after, well, everything. 

“Hey Jeremy, over here!” Rich called, waving a heavily bandaged arm, “Headphones saved you a spot!” 

“I’m not even wearing my headphones…” Michael grumbled, but he waved along with Rich, not about to be outdone. 

Jeremy took a seat next to Jake, sitting on the furthest edge from Chloe, waving back a little, “Hey guys.” 

“So… tell us how the thing with Christine went!” Jenna said, leaning forward in wait. Jeremy noticed that her hands never left her phone. 

“Uh, I think it went w-well. We’ve got a date for Wednesday?” Jeremy reported, blushing. Jake clapped him on the back and Rich said something altogether inappropriate, but Michael just gave him a thumbs up. Odd, he thought Michael wanted them to be together. He was always hyping him up to go talk to her…?

“That’s great!” Brooke said, shaking Jeremy from his thoughts, “Just so you know, I’m totally not hung up on you anymore, so don’t even worry about that!” 

_Somehow, that makes me more worried._

“That’s great Jeremy! I’m totally like over it too.” Chloe said with a slightly forced smile. “Sorry we caused you so much trouble.” She added, leaning on Brooke’s shoulder and somehow trying to take some of the blame off herself and place it on Brooke. The blonde didn’t seem to notice, smiling widely and agreeing.

“Y-yeah, thanks Ch- um. You guys.” Jeremy stuttered, “I’m like, t-totally over you too.” 

“Jeremy, you feeling alright?” Michael asked from his place across the table, “You’re stuttering.” 

“Michael!” Rich gasped, taken aback. “You can’t just call him out like that, man. My speech instructor says that’s fucking rude, dude.”

“Oh, sorry man. I’ve been feeling a little off lately.” Michael said with an easy laugh, and… since when has Michael ever said anything like that?

_Maybe he’s doing it on purpose. Maybe he’s still mad at me. I mean, I’d deserve it._

“Michael obviously didn’t mean anything by it, Rich.” Chloe said, leaning over and putting a protective hand on Michael’s shoulder. _Since when were they so close?_

“Oh, uh, it’s cool man. I, um, I totally get it.” Jeremy said, trying to laugh it off, “Maybe I should do some speech stuff too.”

“Oh man, Jeremy! That would be so awesome, I don’t have anybody to talk to in that hell hole! I mean, it works though.” Rich grinned, clapping his hands together, “That way Jake doesn’t have to sneak in every time we do a group activity!”

Jake shrugged, “It helps for public speaking stuff, like Model U.N.”

“Yeah, speech would be really good for you, man!” Michael said, seeming excited for the first time since Jeremy sat down at the table, “You’ve always been kind of self conscious about that kind of thing.”

“Michael!” Jeremy whispered, trying to make his friend stop spilling Best Friend Secrets to this whole, new, cool lunch table. 

“Oh, sorry dude! I thought that since you were such good friends with them, you already told them.” Michael said, and was that… bitterness in his voice? Jeremy would have to talk to him later about that. 

“Dude, speech impediments are nothing to be ashamed of.” Jake assured him, while Rich grabbed his back in a way that Jeremy was sure was meant to be comforting but somehow missed the mark by a mile. 

“Yeah man, you’re cool now. You can talk however you want.” Michael said, fiddling with the label on his unopened bottle of soda. Was it Mountain Dew? _Oh yeah, that was Michael’s favorite before this whole fiasco._

“Totally!” Chloe agreed, Brooke nodding beside her.

“Y-yeah, I know that.” Jeremy muttered. 

“Michael, you’re cool now too, you know that, right?” Jenna asked, talking over Jeremy, “Since you saved us from that weird ecstasy-acid-trip, you’ve had a spike in popularity. People like you, Michael.” 

“Woah, really?” Michael asked, sounding geniunely surprised. 

“Yeah, I’ve been checking your social media statistics.” Jenna said, looking back to her phone.

“Cool, wait- how did you get ahold of that?” Michael asked. 

“The Patriot Act.” 

While Michael and Jenna had a joking (Jeremy hoped) argument about the legality of that statement, he noticed Christine walking through the cafeteria and waved her over. 

“Oh hey Jeremy! See you on Wednesday.” Christine waved back, walking past to go sit with her friends from theater. 

Jeremy let his hand fall halfheartedly. He looked over to Michael, who winced sympathetically. 

“Sucks, buddy.” He said, reaching across to pat him on the back. Did being popular mean this much touching? Or was it just him? 

…

The week passed by in a blur. Jeremy’s date with Christine went less-than-spectacularly, but they’d still decided to go out again on Sunday. It was weird to be in a group now, weird to be in new speech therapy after school with Rich (and sometimes Jake), weird to be dragged along to Pinkberry with the girls, odd to have Jenna Rolan telling him his coolness statistics (something that gave him an uncomfortable feeling, like she was a replacement squip, but he wasn’t going to tell _her_ that.)

The weirdest thing, however, was Michael. He’d been pulling away from Jeremy, hanging out with Rich and _Chloe_ of all people, and he’d been acting… weird. He never got excited anymore, never wanted to talk about his documentary binges (if he was even having them), never even wanted to talk about _video games_.

It was like in those two months of isolation Michael had become a new person. Jeremy knew that he only had himself to blame for that, but he still missed his dorky best friend. 

But Jeremy knew something that would get the old Michael out. He’d been up all night, looking for this specific lead, and he’d found it. 

He found Michael during homeroom, his best (?) friend leaning against a locker and talking to Chloe. Jeremy froze for a moment. It wasn’t that he hated Chloe, or that he even necessarily blamed her for the events at the party… she’d been really drunk too, but… being around her made him feel deeply uncomfortable. 

Thankfully, she cleared out. Michael opened his locker pulling out his math book and an unopened bottle of Mountain Dew, but he turned when Jeremy called after him, stopping him in his tracks. 

“Hey, I’ve got a surprise for you!” Jeremy said, a smile spreading on his face. Michael smiled back and Jeremy thought it might be back to normal for them, this might be it. 

“Yeah? What is it?” Michael asked, closing his locker.

“So, you know that Apocalypse of the Damned Five-Part Korean drama that they made in 1998? The one that we spent looking for, but they never released it on DVD or VHS and the only thing we found was without subtitles and we couldn’t even watch it?” Jeremy rambled. Michael looked around nervously, but nodded. 

“Yeah?” He asked, laughing nervously. 

“I found someone’s home video! They dubbed over it in English! It’s not, like, an _official_ translation, but--” Jeremy continued, but Michael cut him off. 

“That’s great, but you know we shouldn’t talk about that here, it’s not cool.” Michael said, looking around, as if someone was going to pop out of the woodwork and take away his newfound popularity card. Jeremy’s heart sank. 

“What? Since when did you care about being cool?” Jeremy asked. Michael looked at him with disbelief. 

“Since you did.” He said, turning to go back to homeroom. Jeremy felt a swell of anger. What even gave Michael the right to be mad at him? He was obviously doing better off now. 

“And why are you hanging out with _Chloe_ so much?” He asked accusingly. When Michael turned around, looking more confused than anything, Jeremy wished he could take it back. 

“Why do you care if I hang out with Chloe?” He asked. Jeremy just scoffed to cover up his lack of a response. 

“Whatever. See you in math.” 

“See you?” Michael called back. 

… 

**You know, I could connect to Michael’s squip.**

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jeremy scoffed out loud. He was in his room, so no one could hear him talking to himself. The squip was too weak to bother wasting his precious Mountain Dew Red on, but he eyed the bottle on his desk anyways, “Michael was never squipped.” 

**”Squipped” isn’t a word. And I assure you, he was. You don’t know what happened at the play.**

“And you do? If I remember correctly, you were too busy zombifying the cast, how would you know?” Jeremy countered. 

**Fine, don’t believe me. But don’t wear that shirt on your date with Christine. If you do, I sense a seventy-three percent chance of romantic failure.**

“You can’t tell me what to do.” Jeremy said, pulling on the shirt anyways and taking a drink from the Mountain Dew Red bottle. He’d just ask Michael for more tomorrow. 

**Noo--**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please give me kudos, I need them to pay my student loans.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _He waited, wincing in anticipation. Nothing happened. He slowly un-winced._   
>  _“Holy shit,” Michael breathed, “I’m fine! Awesome!”_
> 
> Michael does the Dew.

Michael had been looking at the unassuming bottle of Mountain Dew for five minutes when he regained composure and snapped to attention. It wasn’t like there had been anyone there to see his momentary lapse in concentration, however, since the only thing in the room judging him was the empty Word Document he was supposed to be writing his English paper on. 

“This is crazy,” he whispered, “I need to throw this away.” 

He didn’t throw it away, however. He just continued to look at the liter of green liquid, transfixed. 

Over the past week and a half, Michael had been craving Mountain Dew. It had always been his favorite soft drink, he was a _gamer_ after all. If he didn’t worship at the altar of Mountain Dew and Doritos every once in awhile, would he even have the right to pick up his controller? 

After the whole squip thing though, they’d all agreed to never drink the stuff again. Michael hadn’t argued at the time, but he hadn’t even been squipped (right?), so why should he have to follow all the rules? He’d been the only smart one in the first place!

Besides, no one had commented when he was carrying it around school. It was as good as a confirmation that he _hadn’t_ been squipped, his new friends would have noticed and said something, right? 

And besides, he _deserved_ this. He’d been trying so hard at school to socialize, something he normally shut out of his life. So what if Jeremy thought he was being weird? He was _trying_. It was more than Jeremy had been doing for him. 

And if he _was_ squipped, he had some Mountain Dew Red on hand. He would only drink a sip of the regular Dew, just to see. And it was going to taste so _good_...

Before he could convince himself otherwise, Michael twisted the top off the bottle. The seal broke, the soda hissed almost like a warning, and Michael was hyperaware of the chemically sweet smell of whatever flavor Mountain Dew was trying to be. 

_This is fucking insane._ Michael brought the bottle to his lips. He took a small sip, the liquid swirling around his mouth and sating--yet increasing--his desire. He swallowed, feeling immense trepidation for whatever was about to happen. 

He waited, wincing in anticipation. Nothing happened. He slowly un-winced. 

“Holy shit,” Michael breathed, “I’m fine! Awesome!” 

With that, he downed the whole bottle. He reached over to the six-pack he’d bought before this whole squip fiasco and pulled off another soda. He chugged that as well, determined to make up for lost time. 

Michael was halfway through his third bottle, when he started to feel a pain in his head. _It must be the caffeine_. He belched and drank the rest of the bottle. 

The pain increased and Michael dropped his empty bottle, clutching his head. He choked back a scream, determined to ride out this self-induced caffeine crisis in silence. His parents were home, after all. 

**Calibration in process. Please excuse some mild discomfort.**

“Mild?” Michael gasped, “Wait--”

**Calibration complete. Access procedure initiated.**

“What the _fuck_ is--”

**Discomfort level may increase.**

“Oh shit,” Michael whispered, before the pain increased so much that he couldn’t hold back his screams. He fell to the floor spasming from the agony he felt in his head. He heard, as though he was underwater, the sound of someone calling his name. 

**Accessing: neural memory. Accessing: muscle memory. Access procedure:  
complete.**

Keanu Reeves appeared, a red holographic figure in Michael’s otherwise normal bedroom. Michael could still hear his parents calling his name, but it was like the volume of his ears had been turned down, the only voice that he could hear clearly was the one from his own mind. 

**Michael Mell, welcome to your Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor.... Your SQUIP.**

“Oh my fucking god,” Michael whispered to himself, “I’m a fucking idiot.” 

**Yes. But we can change that. First, we need to limit your caffeine consumption. You are currently 156 milligrams over your daily recommended limit. Not to mention: Mountain Dew is very high in calories.**

“Did Jeremy seriously have to listen to you for two months?” Michael asked bitterly. 

_”Michael, are you talking to yourself?”_ Michael’s mom called from the other side of the door. 

“No!” Michael yelled back. 

**Do not speak to me out loud. We can converse in your thoughts.**

“Yeah, I’m totally gonna do that.” Michael said sarcastically, aloud. He yelped as he felt a jolt of electricity down his spine. 

**Michael, you need to listen to me. I’m only trying to help you.**

_Help me? Like you helped Jeremy almost take over the whole school?_

**I am not Jeremy’s squip. However, his squip only did what was in Jeremy’s best interest. Jeremy’s desire was difficult to obtain and it required some… extra help--an upgrade. Your desires are much easier to achieve, you’re already working towards them.**

_What do you mean?_ Michael could hear the doorknob rattling. He knew his parents could get in in a few moments, his father did have the key somewhere. He could see his bottle of Mountain Dew Red on the desk, high above where he was on the floor. If he could just get to it… 

**Michael, I’m in your brain. I know your desires and I know that currently one of them is to drink that Mountain Dew Red. But hear me out, if we work together we can improve your life, your social status, even your life life, or lack thereof.**

Michael made a choked-squeak-noise as he struggled to his feet. The squip didn’t try to stop him, if it even could, but it spoke once more when he had his hand on the bottle. 

**Don’t you want to try? Just think about it, if you don’t have me you’ll never fit in with your new friends. If you don’t fit in with your new friends, Jeremy will leave you behind. Again.**

Michael paused. The squip had a point. 

**I know I do. Now, your parents are going to come in. You need to listen to me otherwise they’ll keep you home from school and you won’t be able to talk to Jeremy.**

Michael felt his hand move of its own volition, dumping the Mountain Dew Red onto his shag carpet. Michael weighed the pros and cons of licking the carpet.

_You’re not supposed to be able to control me!_

**Why not? Jeremy’s squip could control him and besides, with the amount of time I laid dormant and the amount of Mountain Dew you drank… Let’s just say I’m an upgrade.**

_Weren’t upgrades supposed to be bad?_

Michael’s dad opened the door. Michael whipped around and flung his arms around his parents, he’d never been so happy to see them in his whole life. 

“Mom, Dad, I accidentally ate a supercomputer and activated it with Mountain Dew and you need to get Jeremy over here right away, he’s got Mountain Dew Red, that’ll deactivate it--” The squip stopped his voice. Michael clutched at his throat, trying to talk to his parents. Hopefully they’d gotten the message. 

“Is that Mountain Dew? Oh no, wasn’t there a bad shipment that was laced with ecstasy or something?” Michael’s mom asked, looking at the empty bottles, “Oh honey, you must have bought some. Didn’t you know you weren’t supposed to drink it?” 

“Yeah, all the other parents on the PTA banned it. I’m frankly surprised anyone would sell it to a kid.” Michael’s dad said. Michael’s heart sank. The cover story for the events of the play had worked too well. 

“Let’s get you to bed, sweetie.” Michael’s mom said, guiding her son to the bed. His body obeyed, sinking silently into the bed. 

“Mom--” he tried again, but he was promptly shushed. 

“It’s okay. I’m going to get you some water and you can sleep it off.” 

“Dad--” 

“It’s okay, hijo, you’ll feel better in the morning.” His dad said, patting his shoulder and walking out with his mom. “What kind of sick bastard would do this to _children_...”

The door closed. Michael felt tears forming in his eyes. _They don’t believe me_.

**Of course they don’t. They don’t need to, you and I are going to achieve all your goals and then you won’t need their validation anymore. Michael, I know what you _really_ want.**

_Shut up… I’m going to fix this. Somehow._ Michael wiped at his eyes, sitting on his bed, oh god, he’d fucked up big time.

**You haven’t fucked up. This is your opportunity, the one you’ve been waiting for. Your chance to be with _Jeremy_.**

“What?” He accidentally asked aloud, sounding scandalized. The Squip didn’t reprimand him this time, however. _I don’t want that- I don’t want to make Jeremy like you made Christine…_

**As I previously stated, Jeremy’s desires were more complicated, Michael. We don’t need to brainwash him, you’re already on the right track.**

_What do you mean, I’m on the right track?_

**You’ve been becoming _popular_. No more video games, hanging out with Rich and Chloe…**

_Of course, they’re my friends! And we’re all really gay. And I haven’t given up video games, I’ve just been… taking a break, is all…_

**Michael, need I remind you that I’m in your brain? I know all of your thoughts, even the subconscious ones. You haven’t been playing video games because you _want_ to be popular. You _want_ to fit in, you _want_ to impress Jeremy. And I can help you.**

Michael paused. Maybe it was right, maybe Jeremy’s squip had just had an unattainable goal. Maybe it would be different and god, he’d had a crush on that boy for _five years_ and he still hadn’t been able to figure out how to get with him. Maybe he _did_ need help. 

The squip, for once, was quiet. Michael sighed. 

_Alright. I’ll try it your way for **three days** , but if it doesn’t go well you’re out._

**Yes. You won’t regret this Michael, but I have to warn you: you have to obey whatever I say. Judging from the limited access I have of the two months that Jeremy was using his SQUIP, it seems that all his troubles happened when he disregarded the SQUIP’s commands. But you know that, right? You’re good at actually listening to directions, right?**

_Better than Jeremy._ Michael thought amusedly. _Fine, it’s a deal._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave kudos, I need them to help me adopt a service iguana


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Just… go easy on Jeremy. I don’t want to hurt him._   
>  **Of course. I only want to give you what you want.**
> 
> Michael and Jeremy hang out.

Jeremy paused by the Mells’ front door, his fist inches away from knocking. He never used to knock before, he knew where the spare key was (in the potted plant) and Michael’s parents never cared when he let himself in, but it felt… weird now. 

Jeremy knocked, thinking that if no one answered he’d just let himself in. Michael hadn’t responded to his texts, but he was supposed to come over this afternoon to hang out. He heard movement on the other side of the door and Michael’s mom opened it up. C 

“Oh! Jeremy, I thought you would have just let yourself in…” Mrs. Mell said, letting him in, “But maybe you should just go home, Michael’s not feeling that well…” 

“It’ll be fine, cariño, I think Michael is doing better now.” Mr. Mell said from the other room. Mrs. Mell sighed and waved Jeremy towards the basement door. 

Jeremy let himself into Michael’s room after doing a courtesy knock on the door. He walked down the stairs to the sound of someone moving things around. 

“Michael?” He called, looking around the room. The basement wasn’t that big, after all, at least not the part that was Michael’s bedroom. (The storage/laundry room was huge and terrifying though, and Michael always kept that door firmly shut). Michael’s room looked vastly different than it had the last time he’d been there. 

Every inch of Michael’s walls used to be covered in posters for video games and weird bands, but now all that Jeremy could see were the white walls. All of the little figurines and old-fashioned console parts that Michael used to have on his dresser were gone, leaving the space looking uncluttered. It was cleaner than Jeremy had ever seen it. It was bizarre. 

“Oh, hey Jeremy.” Michael said, drawing his attention. The other teen was sitting in front of his closet, apparently going through his clothes. He was holding an old “Miner 2049er” shirt, but he quickly threw it into a laundry basket. 

“What are you doing?” Jeremy asked, walking closer. 

“Oh, you know. Going through my stuff. I’m gonna donate a bunch of this to Goodwill.” He said, shrugging nonchalantly. Jeremy looked into the basket. There was a red sleeve peeking out from under a mass of black t-shirts. He pulled it out, revealing Michael’s favorite hoodie. 

“Oh man, you wouldn’t want to lose this.” Jeremy said. Michael glanced over.

“I don’t know. Sometimes you just outgrow things, you know?” He said, before turning back to his closet. Jeremy’s heart sank.

_What did he mean, “you outgrow things?_

**He’s talking about _you_**

Jeremy shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts from the squip and from Michael’s weird behavior. He looked back at the hoodie, with all the patches Michael had carefully sewn on. 

“Can I have it?” He asked tentatively. Michael looked back at him, an Atari shirt in hand. 

“I mean, I guess if you _want_ it.” 

“I do.” Jeremy said, slipping it on. It still smelled like Michael, which meant his mom hadn’t washed it yet. “Hey, do you want to take a break and play some video games?” 

“Sure,” Michael said, throwing one last shirt into the basket and walking with him over to the TV. He bent over to pop in a game and Jeremy sat on his bean bag, looking at him. 

Michael didn’t _look_ sick. In fact, he looked better than he’d looked all week, better than he’d looked in months. His dark circles under his eyes were gone, that worried look he’d had since the play was gone, his hair looked like he’d actually styled it (which was weird, but also really cute?), but the best thing was his arms. 

Jeremy never got to see Michael’s arms exposed. He kept himself covered with his sweatshirt all the time, and now that he was in a tank top with his Pac-Man tattoo bared for the world to see… Jeremy felt weird. It’s not that he hadn’t _noticed_ Michael before, it’s just that he’d never really… thought about it. But Michael was _hot_ , and Jeremy couldn’t believe it’d taken him this long to realize. 

It’s not that he was having a sexuality crisis here. No, Jeremy knew he was bi. After all, why else would his squip have looked like Keanu Reeves? And why else would he have that huge Star Trek poster with Chris Pine above his bed? Jeremy had very much accepted the fact that he was into dudes (maybe not as vocally as Rich and Michael) but was he into Michael? He’d have to store that topic away for further study. 

Michael’s Xbox 360 started up and… since when did Michael have one of those? Sure, it wasn’t the newest gen, but Jeremy didn’t think Michael owned a game system made before 2000. Halo’s loading screen popped up and Michael slipped a controller into Jeremy’s hands before sitting gracefully on his own beanbag. 

“Woah, since when do you have Halo?” Jeremy asked, pushing back the sleeves of his newly acquired hoodie. 

“Oh, my dad got it around when it came out. I just never played it, is all.” Michael said noncommittally. Jeremy frowned. Michael may have mentioned that, but it was so long ago now… 

“Alright, are you ready to get your ass kicked?” Michael asked, shaking Jeremy from his thoughts. Jeremy laughed, that sounded a lot more like the normal Michael. 

Before he knew it, two hours had passed. Jeremy had come over to talk about how he broke up with Christine (if you can really call it a break up after only one date) but they’d been too engrossed in fighting each other to really say more than a few joking insults. 

Eventually Michael paused the game.

“I’m bored,” he whined. 

Jeremy looked over at Michael, ready to open his mouth to say something, bring up the whole Christine thing--just to vent a little but he got distracted as Michael stretched, video game controller still in hand. His shirt lifted just enough to expose a small strip of skin on his stomach as he extended his back, yawning. God. The squip had always been right about one thing and that was posture. Not slouched over and engrossed in the game Michael looked so… different. He felt his cheeks burning a bit, and quickly looked away as Michael set down his controller and looked at him.

Michael grinned, the smile looking just a little bit… off. “You like that, Jeremy?” 

“Wh-what?” Jeremy asked as Michael crawled over to him, kneeling in front of his beanbag. 

“You’re staring, Jeremy.” Michael said, leaning forward on his hands to give Jeremy a deep kiss. He put a hand on Jeremy’s cheek, gently biting his bottom lip before they pulled away, leaving Jeremy breathless.

“Wait- what?” Jeremy asked, his face on fire. He’d _liked_ it. He almost wanted Michael to continue, but… this was really weird. 

“Don’t be so coy. You totally liked it, didn’t you?” Michael asked, smile spread across his lips. But not _his_ smile. 

“Uh, yeah- I guess I-” He was cut off as Michael made another move, this time inching forward to capture his lips in another kiss, slipping some- wait no, a lot of tongue in this time. Michael’s cold hand moved to touch his chest, trailing down his shirt until it rested on his thigh, inches away from his crotch. As Michael’s fingers ghosted his inner thigh Jeremy suddenly pushed away.

“Wait! I- uh, Michael, what’s going on? You’re being weird. We need to talk.” Jeremy covered his mouth a moment, looking away from Michael’s disappointed expression. He took a deep breath. “Look, I’m just not ready for any of that right now.”

“What do you mean?” Michael asked, not moving away from where Jeremy had pushed him. He wasn’t moving forward either, so Jeremy counted it as a win. 

“Look man, I… I just broke up with Christine like five? Six hours ago? I don’t think this is a good time… to mess around like this?” Jeremy tried to dance around what was really making him uncomfortable, but whatever he said just made Michael surge up for another, shorter kiss. 

Jeremy pushed him away again. Michael pouted. 

“Dude, you’re single now! You should be enjoying this!” Michael protested, twining their fingers together. “I’ve always wanted to- I’ve always wanted this with you, Jeremy. I want to show you how much you mean to me.” 

Jeremy paused. He didn’t know what to say to a confession like that, he didn’t know he even _liked_ Michael until moments ago. What was going on? Just when his thoughts were starting to overwhelm him, Michael squeezed his hand. He looked down at his best friend to see an open expression of adoration on his face. 

“I-I can’t do this.” Jeremy confessed, “I… I _really_ liked Christine and, well. We’re going to be friends, but… I couldn’t trust her. I-” He swallowed hard, looking down from Michael’s face. He could do this, he needed to tell his friend why they couldn’t be together, at least for now. Michael deserved an explanation. 

“Yeah?” Michael prompted, rubbing circles on Jeremy’s hand with his thumb. Jeremy took a deep breath. 

“At the party. The Halloween party at Jake’s house, where Rich burned down the house? Before… before all that, before I saw you in the bathroom, Chloe led me into a bedroom and…” Jeremy paused again. He hadn’t told this to anyone. He wasn’t even sure if Chloe remembered. 

“What happened?” 

“She… she wanted to have sex with me--because she was jealous of Brooke or getting back at Jake or something--and I didn’t want to do that, she was too drunk and I couldn’t do that to Brooke and… the squip made my legs stop working. I couldn’t leave and I didn’t want to be there and--” Jeremy was focused on his and Michael’s joined hands, refusing to look his friend in the eye. 

“Oh my god,” Michael whispered, “Jeremy, I’m sorry.” 

“Nothing happened! Jake came in in time and the squip turned off, but… I don’t really want any of that right now. That’s why I broke up with Christine, being around girls makes me… really _nervous_ right now.” Jeremy finished, finally looking at Michael’s face. 

“Oh. So nothing happened?” Michael asked, looking mildly… disappointed? Disturbed? Jeremy couldn’t read his expression, so he continued to talk. 

“It’s not just that! Every… every night I’ve been so scared that the squip would come back--I’ve been having these nightmares. The only thing that makes them go away is Mountain Dew Red and then I can’t sleep and… I know you’ve been getting me some from Spencer’s so I found your guy and I bought like a shitload and god, the caffeine is _not_ helping my anxiety and… It’s like I can still hear it, you know? It never really went away, it’s just quieter and it can’t control me, but it’s still here and I can’t stop listening to it…” Jeremy took a shaky breath, cutting himself off. Michael moved a hand to his face and gently guided it so that they were looking at each other again, inches away. 

“Dude. The squip is gone, you know that. And you don’t need to be afraid of me, do I look like a girl to you?” Michael asked, moving closer. 

“No, but--” 

“Then we’re fine.” Michael said firmly, before pressing another kiss to his lips. Jeremy pushed him away once more, violently shaking his hand free. He stood, trying to get some distance between himself and his friend. 

“Michael, you’re not- you’re not even listening to me!” He said, his voice gaining volume as he tried to express his frustration. Michael sat back, frowning. 

“It sounds like your problems are all in your head, dude. You need to get over them.” 

Jeremy gaped at his friend. Michael never would have said that to him before… or was this really what he thought? What was going on with him? 

**You and I both know the answer to that, Jeremy.**

_Shut up._

“Y-you’re not feeling well,” Jeremy stammered, walking to the stairs, “I should go.” 

“Alright. See you later, man.” Michael called casually, as if he hadn’t just ripped his heart out or something. 

“Yeah, see you.” 

…

“What the _fuck_ was that?” Michael demanded once he had control of himself again. He felt a jolt of electricity down his spine. 

**What did I tell you about talking out loud?**

_Fine, happy? What the fuck did you just say to Jeremy? He’s got anxiety and you’re telling him this is all in his **head**? And why couldn’t I say anything? I didn’t know you could control my voice..._

**I can control anything about you, Michael. I was simply using psychology to speed up the process by which Jeremy will get over his incident with Chloe. This is what’s best for him, he’s going to _think_ whatever we said to him, so why not give him the thoughts first? He needs to accept that something happened to him and get over it. Only then will he feel better and become available to you.**

_I **get** it, but you can’t manipulate someone like that! People don’t just “get over” stuff like that, it takes **time** and **support** and…_

**You’ve only given me three days to work with, Michael, I don’t know what you expect me to do in this short amount of time.**

_Just… go easy on Jeremy. I don’t want to hurt him._

**Of course. I only want to give you what you want.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave kudos, I need them to help pay off my indentured servitude.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Hey guys, do you remember what happened at Midsummer?” Jeremy asked. Chloe barked out a laugh and he had to stop himself from flinching._   
>  _“Remember? How could I forget? That was so bizarre.” She said, swirling her straw in her coffee, “Why?”_
> 
>  
> 
> Jeremy talks to the squad

**Now will you listen to me, Jeremy?**

Jeremy groaned. The squip was not what he wanted to hear first thing in the morning. After the fiasco at Michael’s place, he’d drunk a bottle of Mountain Dew Red and fell into a fitful sleep. 

_What are you talking about?_

**Michael. He ingested one of the SQUIPs during the play and now it’s active.**

_There’s no way, it would have deactivated once the rest of us did._

**Haven’t you been listening? I never connected with Michael’s SQUIP. There was no time, no chance for me to connect with him after he ingested it.**

_Then why would it be active now?_

**Jeremy, Michael has been carrying around a bottle of Mountain Dew all week. Do you really pay so little attention to your “best friend”?**

Jeremy covered his face with his pillow. The squip was right, and he knew it. 

**I know I’m right. What are we going to do to rectify this situation?**

_I should… I need to talk to the others. Maybe they know for sure if he was squipped._

**He _was_ “squipped”, Jeremy, I assure you.**

Jeremy ignored it as it rolled its eyes in the corner of his room, a pale blue holographic image. It was almost invisible at this point, it was so weak, but it hadn’t completely vanished. Unfortunately. 

As Jeremy left his house he hesitated, then pulled on Michael’s hoodie. After all, Michael might want it back today. 

…

Michael wasn’t in school that day, which Jeremy thought was odd. If he had a squip it would want him there, making progress on becoming popular. 

**Not necessarily. Michael may not desire popularity the way you did, Jeremy.**

Jeremy continued to ignore the squip, going about his day. At lunch the table felt intimidating without his comrade-in-nerdiness by his side, but he sat next to Rich (who was thrilled) and got right to the point. 

“Why are you wearing Headphones’ hoodie? Are you dating now? Is it official?” Rich asked excitedly. Jeremy ignored him. 

“Hey guys, do you remember what happened at Midsummer?” Jeremy asked. Chloe barked out a laugh and he had to stop himself from flinching. 

“Remember? How could I forget? That was so bizarre.” She said, swirling her straw in her coffee, “Why?” 

“Michael’s been acting… weird--” Jeremy began. 

“Yeah he has!” Rich interrupted, sounding vaguely scandalized, “You noticed too? He was super rude the other day. God, I thought I was the only one who noticed!” 

“You don’t think he was squipped, do you?” Brooke asked, sounding concerned. 

**”Squipped” continues to be poor grammar, Jeremy, as it is not a word.**

_I didn’t say it this time._

**You must enlighten your friends.**

“Yeah… I was wondering i-if any of you remembered him getting squipped at the play.” Jeremy said, ignoring the squip’s **Not you too, Jeremy.**

“Oh yeah,” Jake said through a mouthful of fries, “He totally got squipped. Chloe totally gave him one of those tic tacs when I was holding him down. You were talking to Christine about something, I don’t know. I don’t think he drank any Mountain Dew though.” 

“Oh my god,” Jenna said, as if having an epiphany, “Michael was totally carrying a liter of Mountain Dew around all week. What if he accidentally activated it?” 

“That doesn’t make any sense though, I thought he knew everything about the squips,” Rich said, “He must have known it would activate it.” 

“He did get a concussion during that whole thing though… He told me he could barely remember what happened,” Jeremy said slowly, talking out his own revelation, “And he used to drink Mountain Dew all time before…”

“What a gamer.” Chloe scoffed. Brooke elbowed her. 

“So you think he might have done it accidentally?” Jake asked, “Wow, that sucks. I’d offer help, but I don’t think I can hold him down like this. The doctor said not to put any more strain on my legs until they’re healed, you know?” 

“Don’t worry, Jeremy. We can think up a plan tonight on how to get him back to normal. I mean, he should be back in school tomorrow, right?” Jenna asked. Jeremy nodded uncertainly. 

“What do you think he wants? That might make it easier to trick him into drinking some Mountain Dew Red.” Rich said. 

Jeremy thought back to the weird encounter in Michael’s basement. It had been spotless, he’d gotten rid of all his posters and stuff, he was playing _Halo_ , of all things… 

_He must want to be popular. He’s probably trying to get with some guy and I must be the bottom rung of his dating ladder. I mean, that’s why I dated Brooke…_

**Jeremy, I thought you were smarter than that.**

“I-I’m not sure.” Jeremy stuttered, fiddling with the sleeves of the hoodie. Jenna looked up from her phone and scoffed. 

“He likes you, Jeremy. Everyone knows it. It’s super obvious.” She said, before going back to her phone. Brooke made a deeply offended noise. 

“You can’t just out Michael like that!” She protested, “What if he hasn’t told Jeremy yet?” 

“He has a pride patch on his sleeve!” 

“He told me he was gay when we were thirteen,” Jeremy began, but it was a lost cause as Brooke and Jenna argued over him. The bell rang anyways, signalling the end of lunch. 

“Let’s do a group call tonight. Does five work for everyone?” Chloe asked, picking up her tray to dump out. Everyone made some vague agreement sounds, “It’s settled.” 

Jeremy got to math class, his one class where he only had Michael, and sighed as he sunk into his chair. It was going to be a long rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please give me kudos, I need them to bribe my state senator


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Michael, oh my god.” He whispered, “Why didn’t I see it before? I love you.”_
> 
> Michael and Jeremy hang out after school

Michael snuck around the side of Jeremy’s house and slid the blade of his pocketknife under the living room window, the one he knew was always unlocked. He pried the window open before struggling into the room. He collapsed in a heap on the floor, before looking around to make sure no one saw. 

**Jeremy and Mr. Heere are both at work. Who would have seen you?**

Michael shrugged, before sitting down in a chair to wait for Jeremy to come in. 

_Why did you tell me to break into his house, exactly?_

**He would be suspicious if you invited him over so soon. Plus we’ve got to activate his squip, to align his desires with your own.**

_Are you sure that that’s a good idea? What if he still wants Christine? It would just be a repeat of what happened before._

Michael looked nervously at the bottle of Surge in his hands. He’d replaced the contents with regular Mountain Dew. It felt wrong to be doing this after he put so much effort into deactivating Jeremy’s squip, but he had made a deal with his own squip, after all. And besides, it hadn’t exactly been wrong about its advice yet. 

**I’m sure, Michael. This would have been much easier if your parents hadn’t made you stay home from school.**

That was fair, Michael thought. So he waited. 

An hour passed before Jeremy walked through the door. He dumped his bag on the floor and sighed loudly.

“What’s up?” Michael asked. Jeremy’s head snapped up like he was shot. 

“How-?” Jeremy asked, holding his chest. Michael was about to respond, but Jeremy put his finger up for him to pause, “How did you get into my house?” 

“How do I always get in?” Michael asked with a laugh. The squip was silent through this exchange, letting them talk naturally. Michael was grateful, “So how was school?” 

“What are you, my dad?” Jeremy scoffed, “It was fine. Math sucked.” 

Michael grinned. Jeremy meant that math sucked without _him_. Maybe the squip had the right idea, this whole psychological bullshit might be working after all. 

**Of course I’m right, Michael.** Michael rolled his eyes in the direction of the red figure to Jeremy’s left. Thankfully, Jeremy wasn’t looking at him to notice. 

“I bet.” Michael agreed, “Best part of being home sick, no schoolwork.” 

“Come on, let’s go to my room. My dad said I’m not supposed to have people over for like a week or a month or something.” Jeremy said, leading the way. 

Michael followed Jeremy to his room. It looked exactly the same as the last time he saw it, two or three months ago. A wave of nostalgia crashed over him, but Jeremy was still talking to him so he tuned back into him. 

“I’m gonna have to kick you out at like four, I’ve got to work on a… group project,” Jeremy said as if he was uncertain, digging through his bag for something and avoiding Michael’s gaze, “But, um, I got your math homework, just give me a minute.” 

**This would be a good time to give him the soda.**

Michael nodded to himself, reaching into his own bag and pulling out the Surge bottle. “So, since I didn’t have to go to school, I went to the mall and got some Surge! You gotta try it, I swear they used something better than sugar before it was discontinued.”

Jeremy looked up at him, abandoning his search for homework. He frowned. “Uh, okay, I guess.” He took the bottle from Michael’s hands and uncapped it. 

_Are you really sure this is a good idea? Maybe I should stop him. I should ask before I make his squip reactivate, this isn’t right._

**Michael, if you tell him that now you will ruin your chances to be with him.**

Jeremy paused, the bottle up to his lips. 

…

**That’s Mountain Dew.**

_I can tell._ Jeremy thought, _Mountain Dew smells toxic._

**What are you going to do?**

“Uh… Is this Mountain Dew?” Jeremy asked. 

**Brilliant.**

“Um. No?” Michael said, sounding unsure. 

“I mean… Are you asking me? Or are you telling me that this isn’t Mountain Dew?” 

“I mean, I don’t exactly have the ingredients memorized for Mountain Dew and Surge, so I don’t know if they’re the same drink or not?” 

“That’s bullshit. You did a chem project on ‘what makes crystal pepsi clear’. You’d know. So stop lying, is this Mountain Dew?” Jeremy demanded. 

**Assertive. Good, you’re finally taking my advice.**

_Go fuck yourself._

“Listen, I don’t _want_ to lie to you, Jeremy. But I need you to drink this so that our desires can be aligned and we can be together!” Michael explained, maneuvering so that he was blocking the door to the hall. 

“Dude, you’re being crazy. You’re the one who figured out that the squips were bad, remember?” Jeremy said, his voice pleading. 

**I am not _bad_. I am executing all of my functions to the best of my capability.**

“And if you do this,” Michael continued, as if Jeremy hadn’t even spoken, “You can get over what Chloe did to you! The squip can help you!” 

_I doubt that._

**I could block those memories if I were at full capacity, so Michael is not technically wrong.**

“That’s not what I want, Michael! I just want to be normal, I want things to go back to normal!” Jeremy protested. 

“If you wanted things to be normal, you shouldn’t have swallowed a supercomputer in the first place! I’m the one who had to save you! I’m the one who stuck by you even though you didn’t talk to me for months! I did hours of research, and for what? So we could sit at the popular table at lunch? That was never what I wanted!” Michael ranted. 

“Then what do you want, Michael?” Jeremy asked, crossing his arms. 

“You! I’ve always wanted _you_!” Michael all but shouted, gesturing to the bottle of Surge, “So you have to drink this Mountain Dew!” 

“You want me to be like what I did to Christine? Unable to think for myself, just blindly going along with your desires?” Jeremy countered. 

“That’s not even how squips operate, Jeremy, and you know that. Christine _wanted_ to date you, otherwise it wouldn’t have worked. The squip wouldn’t have suggested it if it wasn’t going to work.” Michael argued. 

Jeremy paused. He’d just had a conversation with Christine that day, after math class. She’d asked him why he broke up with her and, unable to tell her the real answer, he’d told her that he didn’t want to be with her because he was afraid the squips were influencing her decision. 

_She’d been confused. ”I thought you broke up with me because of Michael or something.”_

_”Michael? Why would I break up with you because of Michael?”_

_”I mean, he has a huge crush on you and he saved us. And I just thought that since you two are always, like, all over each other and all… I honestly thought the two of you were dating before you got all popular.” She’d trailed off and he laughed it off awkwardly, but maybe she was right. Maybe he’d actually had a crush on Michael that whole time._

“Jeremy, this is the only way we can be together.” Michael said, shaking him from his thoughts, “You have to drink this.” 

Jeremy looked at Michael. He looked better than ever, better than he had yesterday. He was practically glowing and he must have actually had real sleep for once. His hair was slicked back again and Jeremy almost missed the way his curls used to fall in his face. He didn’t know how he’d missed this, missed his obvious attraction to his best friend. The other teen smiled, but it looked all wrong and his gaze seemed far away. 

“No.”Jeremy said, trying to edge past him. That wasn’t Michael. He needed to help him, the same way Michael had helped him during the play. 

Michael threw an arm in his way, stopping him. 

“I can’t let you leave, Jeremy. You’ve got to drink this.” He grabbed his arm, hard, and Jeremy struggled out of his hold. 

“I’m good, thanks.” He said, trying to slip by again. Michael blocked him, coming closer and trying to back him into a corner, the Surge bottle somehow back in his hand. 

_When did that happen?_

**You haven’t been paying attention, Jeremy. On your left.**

Jeremy moved his arm away just before Michael could grab it again. He backed up, trying to avoid Michael’s grabbing hands, but soon his back hit the wall and Michael was pressed against him, keeping him still, and it was all _too much_ , and he needed to _get out_.

“ _No_.” Jeremy said, his voice raw even to his own ears. Michael hesitated. 

**You could drink it, you know.**

_Yeah, right._

**Hear me out! Your primary desire right now is for you and Michael to both not have squips. If you activate me, that’s the objective we will be working towards.**

_But I also… I like him, wouldn’t our desires just align and have us in some brainwashed misery together?_

**I’ll make a deal with you. I will help you deactivate Michael’s squip if you help me later.**

_Oh yeah, and what do **you** want?_

**I need to be properly deactivated, not this malfunctioning mess.**

_How?_

**Is that really important at the moment?**

The squip was right. Michael seemed to be having a moment with his own squip though, paused and looking at the wall behind Jeremy. Michael was so close to him, his heart was pounding in a strange combination of fear and anticipation. 

“Jeremy, I need some Mountain Dew Red,” Michael said desperately, his voice barely a whisper. Now that Jeremy heard him talk, he could barely believe that he _hadn’t_ noticed that he had been squipped that whole time. His voice was so different now that all that fake confidence was stripped from it, “Please, man.” 

Jeremy nodded and something in Michael’s eyes changed. He leaned back and all Jeremy couldn’t see his eyes at all, just the glare on his glasses reflecting his own scared face back at him. 

“Michael’s just too pathetic to go after what he really wants, Jeremy. _You_ have been his primary desire for five years. He _loves_ you, Jeremy, and he’s been too scared to even mention it.” Michael (not Michael, Michael’s squip) said, smirking up at him, “But now that he’s got me, he doesn’t need to be afraid anymore! He will have you! Just as soon as you drink this Mountain Dew!” 

Michael pressed the drink to Jeremy’s lips. He could fight it. Or he could make that deal with his own squip. 

Jeremy took a sip of Mountain Dew and swallowed. 

…

_No! Why would he do that? How is he gonna get me the Mountain Dew Red if he’s squipped?_

**”Squipped” isn’t a word, Michael. And this is all going according to plan! Soon you’ll have everything you ever wanted!**

Jeremy was screaming, clutching his head. Michael winced sympathetically. He nearly collapsed, but Michael caught him in time, gently bringing him down to rest on the ground. 

Jeremy stopped screaming. He opened his eyes and looked up at Michael with something akin to wonder. 

“Michael, oh my god.” He whispered, “Why didn’t I see it before? I love you.” 

Michael’s heart soared and sank at hearing that. He’d waited so long for Jeremy to finally realize they were totally meant to be together, but he never wanted it like _this_. His voice sounded like Christine’s had at the play, when she’d come backstage and confessed her love to Jeremy. 

_That’s not Jeremy._

**Now I just need to align your desires.**

“Up, up, down--”

“Wait!” Jeremy cut Michael off mid-cheat code, pressing a finger to his lips, “My squip is faulty from all the Mountain Dew Red I drank. I don’t want to corrupt your system.” 

“I’ll be fine, I assure you.” Michael said, but Jeremy shook his head. 

“I’m sure our desires are already in line anyways. I want _you_.” He said, looking star-struck, like Michael was the only thing in the universe. 

“I, uh…” Michael stuttered, his real voice coming through from the shock. 

“I need to go to the bathroom.” Jeremy said, “But when I get back, I’ll prove to you that I love you.” 

**He’s lying.**

_Wait! What if he’s not? Jeremy is a human, he probably does have to pee. I mean, I stopped him right when he came in._

**Reasonable. But you’re wrong.**

_Can’t we please just let him be in love with me this way? I don’t want to align our desires, it’s... creepy. This way it’ll be like it’s happening naturally._

**Nothing about having a supercomputer in your brain is natural, Michael. But fine, we’ll do it your way for now. We can always find someone to repair Jeremy’s SQUIP.**

_Thank you._

Michael let Jeremy leave. A few moments of silence passed. He heard the toilet flush and the sink run, Jeremy must not have been lying. 

He came back into the room a moment later, wordlessly approaching Michael and stopping close, right in his personal space (not that Michael was necessarily complaining). Jeremy reached out and cupped his cheek, gently bringing him forward and pressing their lips together in a kiss. 

Michael sighed into the kiss, content to keep it sweet and chaste, but his squip took over, using his tongue to open Jeremy’s mouth and… what the hell?

Michael felt a warm mouthful of Mountain Dew Red pour into his mouth. He inhaled and swallowed in surprise, almost at the same time. He pushed Jeremy away, doubled over, coughing. 

“Dude, that is so gross.” Michael said between coughs. Jeremy laughed in surprise and Michael almost joined him, if not for the splitting pain in his head. He screamed and fell to the floor, clutching his head and embracing sweet, sweet unconsciousness as it came up to greet him. 

“Michael-!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please give me kudos, I need to save them for my 401k


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“I missed you,” Jeremy said, sitting down on the edge of the hospital bed awkwardly. “You know, the normal you.”_
> 
>  
> 
> Michael is unsquipped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, this is the last chapter! God, we really cranked this out fast, but we were really inspired and encouraged by your comments, so thank you so much for reading this fic! This was a ton of fun to write and I'm honestly kind of sad it's over, but I hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did writing it! (Sorry for the excessive exclamations and questionable grammar, I'm overexcited and it's currently 1:20am where I am). 
> 
> We added a little something onto the notes in the first chapter, so check that out! And we drew a few arts that we're putting in the notes below. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy this final chapter! <3

Michael distantly heard the steady beeping of a heart monitor. 

_That’s weird. I didn’t think I left Apocalypse of the Damned on._

Level Seven, “Operating Room of Doom”, had a heart monitor that slowly beat faster and faster all level. He and Jeremy had been stuck on it for three weeks the first time they played. It was the highest level he could get to without a Player Two. 

He blinked blearily. _Why is the room so white? I don’t remember leaving the lights on… I don’t remember owning lights this bright…_

Michael’s eyes shot open. It all came rushing back to him, the play, the squip, his weird state of mind, _manipulating_ Jeremy, _kissing_ Jeremy. He glanced to his side to see a blob that looked like Jeremy there, despite all that shit he pulled, scrolling through his phone. 

“Jeremy?” Michael asked, his voice gravelly with sleep. Jeremy jolted, surprised, looking up at him. 

“Dude! You’re awake! I gotta go get your parents, they’ve been so worried.” He said, moving to stand. Michael reached out to stop him, but recoiled, remembering how the squip had made him do that in Jeremy’s bedroom. Jeremy paused, regardless, but his face was too blurry to make out without glasses.

“Wait- I just. What’s going on?” Michael asked, “Did… did you backwash Mountain Dew Red into my mouth?” 

Jeremy choked on the air, “Uh, no!” A pause. “Yes. Yes, I did. But it was the only way!” 

“Sure, sure.” Michael said placatingly, “So, uh, why weren’t my parents here when I woke up? Not that I’m complaining, but...” 

“Well, your parents are somewhere talking to the doctor about ecstasy? They, um, think you drank some tainted Mountain Dew. They’re also really mad at my dad for letting you have tainted Mountain Dew.” Jeremy said, “So, uh, I may or may not be grounded.” 

Michael laughed, patting around on the bed. “Hey, do you know where my glasses went?” 

“Oh, here.” Jeremy said, pulling them out of his pocket. He handed them to Michael, who saw him clearly for the first time since he awoke. Jeremy was wearing his hoodie. 

“You’re wearing my hoodie.” 

“Yeah. You were going to give it to Goodwill.” 

“Oh.” Michael said, remembering. He felt the blood drain from his face, “Oh my god, I donated all my clothes to Goodwill.”

“It can’t be that bad.” Jeremy said, obviously holding back laughter. 

“Dude, the only ‘cool’ clothes I owned were two tank tops, three pairs of jeans, and a Call of Duty shirt my grandma got me for Christmas.” Michael groaned, burying his face in his hands, “He gave away my coat!” 

Jeremy patted him on the back, “Well, global warming is setting in so you might not have to worry about being cold.” 

“You’re not helping.” 

Jeremy’s laugher eventually died down and Michael looked back up at him. 

“I missed you,” Jeremy said, sitting down on the edge of the hospital bed awkwardly. “You know, the normal you.” 

“I missed you too,” Michael said, before a revelation occurred to him, “Wait, how were you not taken over by your squip? We reactivated it, but you were still able to drink the Mountain Dew Red.” 

“I had a talk with it. Mine was, uh, kind of defective? It turns out that Christine really only wiped out the new squips when she drank that Mountain Dew Red during Midsummer, so most of them were fine, but me and Rich could still hear ours.” Jeremy explained, “And since she messed up the connection or whatever, we couldn’t fully deactivate ours with the Red afterwards.”

“That sucks. So it just… let you turn it on and off again?” Michael asked.

“Kind of. I had to go to Payless and pay like $50 for some access code to fully turn it off. We had this argument about a warranty… it was weird, man. But the squip’s gone now.”

“That’s good.” Michael said. He reached out to put a hand on Jeremy’s shoulder, but paused and put his hand down, fiddling with the blanket. “I, um. I’m really sorry. About everything. But, um, especially how I acted in my basement. That… that wasn’t right.”

“It’s fine, man. I know it was the squip.” Jeremy said, “I’m sorry you got it in the first place.” 

“I’m sorry I activated it. I think it was subliminal messaging me to make me want Mountain Dew.” Michael said, “I totally thought I was fine.” 

“I’m sorry for not noticing there was something off with you.” 

“I’m sorry I made fun of your stuttering in front of the popular kids.” 

“Dude, those are our friends now. I’m sorry for making you sit with the popular kids.” 

“I’m sorry for being friends with Chloe. Does she know…?” 

“No, she was way too drunk to remember. I’m sorry for being weird about you being friends with Chloe.”

“I’m sorry for having a crush on you.” Michael said, no longer looking at Jeremy. 

“I’m not.” Jeremy said. Michael felt a hand come to rest gently on top of his own. He looked up to see Jeremy looking at him, a determination in his eyes that Michael hadn’t seen directed at anything but video games. 

Jeremy twisted and leaned in, hesitating inches from Michael’s face. 

_You don’t have to do this._ Michael thought.

He started to vocalize the thought, “You-” but he was cut off by Jeremy pressing a soft kiss on his cheek. “Oh!” 

“I might kind of be into you. But if we want to be, um, boyfriends, we’re gonna have to take this with baby steps cause, uh, everything that happened was super weird. But I’m willing to try if you are.” Jeremy said. Michael nodded enthusiastically. 

“Dude, we can take this as slow as you want. I’m honestly just happy to be here with you right now.” Michael said, resting his head on Jeremy’s shoulder. Jeremy sighed contentedly, but then seemed to realize something. 

“Oh, dude! When I was at Payless I stopped by GameStop to see what was in their bargain bin and look what I found!” He pulled his old, beat up PSP out of his pocket and started it up. A familiar song played from the tiny speakers. “Post-Apocalypse of the Damned: the Aftermath!” 

“Oh my god. I thought there were only a few hundred made in English.” Michael said, watching the opening cutscene, “I mean. Maybe I wouldn’t call that English.” 

“The guy told me that if I tried to return it I’d only get three cents back, because that’s how much it’s worth. So I guess we’re stuck with it now.” Jeremy said, pressing start, “It’s also got this weird story mode…” 

Michael listened to Jeremy ramble on about their favorite game, grinning all the while. To be honest, this was the first time his excitement for the game had been overshadowed by something, but he couldn’t bring himself to mind much. 

Later, after his parents would come in and fuss over him, he’d have to answer a million medical questions, and he’d have to tell his parents just why he should be allowed to hang out with his new _boyfriend_ , but for now he was content to lean against Jeremy and feel secure as he wrapped an arm around him while they played the shittiest video game ever made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave kudos, I need them to fund my girl gang (we're getting jackets)
> 
> Also we have art [here!](http://spinalbaby.tumblr.com/post/168038071474/a-few-michaels-from-fredandgingers-and-my-new)


End file.
